What do the Cards Hold for You Today?

On any given day, we expect some fairly simple and basic things; Simple and basic from a firefighter’s perspective that is. We hope that we have a busy day, for the most part. That the alarms and incidents keep allow us to practice our skills and do what we do best. Deep down inside, we also hope that we have a good “job” come in.

Not that we hope or wish undue miss-fortune, distress or sorrow on anyone, but, IF a fire is going to happen, let it happen on my shift, my tour or while I’m at the firehouse and able to make the first-due. It’s a pretty fundamental hierarchy of need, and it’s what makes us tick at times. Because of who we are and what we do. Right?

The daily experience, expectations, our comfort zone; We’re Pretty Good At What We Do-Regularly….We Develop Profound Habits and Methods…We Treat a Lot of Things as Equal in May Respects...We’ve Grown Accustomed to Certain Operational Modes. We don’t really think anything is going to happen to us, certainly nothing so adverse that I don’t go home after the call. Nothing is going to happen to YOU; it happens to someone else….BUT to everyone else-YOU are the other Guy!

On any give day, at any give alarm, the dynamics around us at times are either in or out of our control. We may not be able to see what the cards have in store for us, BUT we must ensure we use every bit of training, fortitude, knowledge, skills, courage, bravery, insights, luck and sometimes (other divine) intervention to get us through.

There have been a lot of bad things that have happened over the course of the past few weeks in the fire service, with the continuing tragic loss of brother firefighters in the line of duty, accidents, injuries and other situations both directly and indirectly. Think about your actions, think about what you can do to make a difference or to alter or change the course of a situation. We sometimes have a greater hand in destiny and how the cards are dealt than we think. Be safe, have a great tour or stay at the firehouse today.